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Etsy, the two-sided online marketplace operator, has announced its acquisition of the community-led fashion resale marketplace Depop for $1.625bn (£1.15bn).
The deal, which is expected to be completed in Q3 FY21, will see Depop continue to be headquartered in London and run by its existing leadership team as a standalone marketplace.
Founded in 2011, Depop experienced over 100% year-on-year growth to its gross merchandise sales (GMS) and revenue in FY20, and operates with a community of approximately 30 million registered users across almost 150 countries.
Josh Silverman, CEO at Etsy, said that Depop provides a “highly-differentiated offering of unique items”, claiming that the company has “significant potential to further scale”.
He added: “Depop’s world-class management team and employees have done a fantastic job nurturing this community and driving organic, authentic growth in a way that aligns well with Etsy’s DNA and mission of keeping commerce human.
“We see significant opportunities for shared expertise and growth synergies across what will now be a tremendous ‘house of brands’ portfolio of individually distinct, and very special, e-commerce brands.”
The transaction sees Etsy’s portfolio of brands further extended, with Depop joining Etsy and Reverb in acting independently while benefiting from shared expertise in areas such as product, marketing, technology, and customer support.
Maria Raga, CEO at Depop, said: “We’re on an incredible journey building Depop into a place where the next generation comes to explore unique fashion and be part of a community that’s changing the way we shop.
“We’ll now take an exciting leap forward as part of the Etsy family, benefiting from Josh’s and his team’s expertise, and the resources of a much larger company whose values are so aligned with ours here at Depop.”
Etsy acknowledged that it has sufficient available liquidity to fund the acquisition, with its $1.8bn (£1.27bn) in cash as of 31 March 2021 used as the primary funding source of the deal.
